–not your momma's goulash–

Month: April 2011

Ever since last week’s creation, I’ve been on a bag kick. Now that I get the gist of basic bag making, I wanted to try something different. A few pleats, several buttons, lots of topstitching, a pocket, and a heap of scraps later, this was born:

I liked the adjustable strap idea from the Awesome Bag, but I didn’t want to get button-crazy with this one…. SO, I sewed one side of the strap to the bag, and made three buttonholes on the other side of the strap. I recycled some sweet buttons from a sweater (which sadly, I only got a few wears out of before it started unravelling into oblivion! …I’m so annoyed with you, J.Crew!).

The green print is Amy Butler, and the solid blue is cotton twill. Instead of interfacing to give the bag some structure and heft, I used some old fleece I had lying around- the bag has a nice weight to it without feeling stiff. The main lining is made of muslin. I’m kicking myself that I didn’t put a pocket on the inside too to hold all my small junk like lip gloss, keys, loose change, and loose crumbs… oh well, next time. For now though, I love that this bag is pretty, bright, and soft. I especially love that it looks so nice with my new (and more importantly cheap) yellow Target shoes.

I made this bag using a super easy tutorial by Meg of Elsie Marley. It’s called “the awesome bag”, and for good reason. It’s reversible, and the strap is adjustable… It uses 2 different fabrics- using only a 1/2 yard of each, which is…. dare i say it- awesome. There are 5 buttons going up each side of the bag, so you can adjust the strap length to your liking. Make it long, and it’s like a messenger bag- or keep it short, and it’s more like a handbag.

It is completely reversible- the strap as well…. (that means there are… 20 buttons in all- 10 on the outside, 10 on the inside. yowza.) So, you can change it up based on your outfit or your mood. The inside fabric on mine is a khaki linen, and the outside is some Japanese fabric that I’ve been wondering what to do with for a long time…. it’s by Echino. I think this was the perfect project for it.

I’m not sure if I’ll keep this one for myself, or give it away… I have it in mind for a friend who happens to be…. you guessed it- awesome.

A while back, I bought a bunch of clearance fabric from Fabric.com… it was one of those sales they had where the already marked down fabrics were an additional 30% off. I fell in love with this print– it has some odd-looking (in a cute way) bunnies and gnarly carrots all over it. The bunnies have some ca-razy looking eyes… (i don’t know, maybe they’ve been eating too much grass?) Anyway, I bought this print in 3 different colors and I think I paid around $2/yard. cha-ching! Jay McCarroll (1st winner of Project Runway- love that show!) designed it for Free Spirit, and he’s got a ton of other cool stuffto check out: like these psychadelic deer, some kooky robot birds, and this pink blob something-or-other. I dig it all!

After trying out the easy smocking technique on G’s old pillowcase last month, I thought I’d try it again on some new fabric. These bunnies were calling my name. No, really! They were! Eeeeeeeekkk!

Once I got into this project I knew it would be too small for Ellery, but luckily I have a super cute and petite niece who I’m sure can rock it just fine.

I can’t wait to see little Avery (or “Tiny” as she prefers these days) running through the yard on Easter morning… finding candy-filled plastic eggs, the soundtrack from Best Little Whorehouse in Texas playing in the background (it’s a family tradition….weird, right?) in this stoner-bunny dress. She’s gonna look awesome. And she’ll probably find the egg with the cash in it.

-Erin

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